Gieve Patel is an Indian poet, playwright, painter, and a practicing doctor based in Mumbai. Gieve Patel holds an important existence in the history of modern Indian poetry in English. He is a self-instructed poet, artist and a playwright. His first show was held in the city of Mumbai in the year 1966 and went on to have some of the grand exhibitions in India and abroad. He is one of the Indian literary personalities who write in English. He belongs to an advanced grouping of artists based in Mumbai and Baroda.
Early Life of Gieve Patel
Gieve Patel was born in the year of 1940 in Mumbai. He did his schooling from St Xavier`s High School and Grant Medical College.
Career of Gieve Patel
His poetry works comprise Poems, first launched by Nissim Ezekiel followed by "How Do You Withstand", "Body and Mirrored Mirroring". His plays include "Princes", "Savaksa" and "Mr Behram".
He held his first show at Mumbai in 1966 that went on to have numerous major exhibitions in India and overseas. He has been performing a poetry workshop in Rishi Valley School for over a decade. He also edited a collection of poetry which was published in 2006. One of Poems "Licence" from the anthology "How do you withstand" is included in the collection "Confronting Love" edited by Arundhati Subramanyam and Jerry Pinto.
In an appropriately titled poem, "The Ambiguous Fate" of Gieve Patel, he being neither a part of Hinduism nor Islam in India, grieves the isolation faced by the Parsis in the starting line of the short poem based on communal riots, when he writes; "To be no part of this hate is deprivation". The human conditions, along with its uneven edges which are not free from poetry are expressed on the canvasses of Gieve Patel. Sharply aware of ordinary man, Patel`s figures are often placed within cityscapes and as they move about executing their chores, there is close observation of their postures, clothes and stances.
Works of Gieve Patel
In his poems, the body of the poem acts as a living figure of speech. Gieve Patel`s famous works are as follows:
•Licence.
•Mirrored, Mirroring. (Poetry in English).
•How Do You Withstand.
•Poems.
•On Killing a Tree.
•Nargol.
•Servants.
•Naryal Purnima.
•O My very own Cadaver.
•Commerce.
His poems have been published in The New Writing in India, Illustrated Weekly of India, Poetry India and Young Commonwealth Poets.
